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Animal Ethics Biosafety Human Research Ethics Research Integrity

A year after lockdowns began, has research got any kinder? – Nature (Gemma Derrick | June 2021)

Posted by Dr Gary Allen in Research Integrity on September 7, 2021
Keywords: Peer review, Research integrity, Research results, Researcher responsibilities

The Linked Original Item was Posted On June 10, 2021

Science technology concept. Scientist's open hands manipulating augment reality data readout.

Gemma Derrick revisits calls for a better research culture.

Last year, in the initial throes of the pandemic, I found myself trapped in Spain at the start of a lockdown, witnessing immense change in research culture. I was delighted by the many acts of kindness and altruism that those who work in science were capable of: from funders extending deadlines, no questions asked, to institutions streamlining bureaucracy and publishers making coronavirus research free to all. I wrote about the experience for Nature.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed some elements of scientific research for the better.  Such as cooperation between researchers, the public standing of research and the constructive use of preprint servers.  It also saw faster and kinder peer review and other processes.  But a year on, have these changes been sustained.  This Nature piece explores this question and suggests the opportunity for long-term positive change is still in our hands.  While we like elements of this piece, it is a little naive – some of the ‘pressures’ it identifies are not real- they are self-imposed.

The original piece hit home for a number of academics globally. Fearful of the incoming unknowns and weary of a culture that places immense pressure on them personally and professionally, they were inspired by the sense that there is a better, kinder way to do science. In the months after the article was published, I received more than 100 e-mails from people around the world who shared an interest in recognizing and reducing disparities in research culture. They echoed the hope expressed in the article, and welcomed the opportunity to re-evaluate the values underpinning our culture.

I also received correspondence from some who did not think that a message of research kindness was sustainable. For them, the pandemic would only exacerbate moments of unkindness: the research enterprise was too inhospitable in its very nature to allow any change. I did not respond to these e-mails, choosing instead to focus on the positivity of this opportunity to recreate research culture.

There are many challenges to embracing the type of research culture we want. And that’s aside from everything else that we have had to balance this year — adjusting long-term to a new normal, recovering from periods of home-schooling and battling with almost impossible mid-pandemic workloads while taking care of our own and others’ health. But we can all take steps to make things better.

A year after lockdowns began, has research got any kinder?
Gemma Derrick revisits calls for a better research culture.

Related Reading

How COVID-19 could make science kinder – Nature Index (Gemma Conroy | February 2021)

Richard Smith: Peer reviewers—time for mass rebellion? – BMJ Opinion (Richard Smith | February 2021)

Scientists Need to Be Kinder to One Another – Scientific American (Naomi Oreskes | February 2021 issue)

Kindness alone won’t improve the research culture – Nature (Julie Gould | December 2020)

Kinder publishing practices should become the new normal – Times Higher Education (Phil Emmerson | April 2020)

People will not trust unkind science – Nature (Gail Cardew | February 2020)

Universities must overhaul the toxic working culture for academic researchers – The Guardian (Anton Muscatelli | January 2020)

Kinder Peer Review – Scientists Are Humans (Dr Rebecca Kirk | November 2018)

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